There go those fish and everything thats coming upstream is dead!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...nts-alaska-bc-mine-relations/article22741378/

Mount Polley spill taints Alaska-B.C. mine relations
MARK HUME
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Feb. 01 2015, 9:50 PM EST
Last updated Sunday, Feb. 01 2015, 10:17 PM EST

A provincial government report that found the tailings pond dam at Mount Polley collapsed because it was built on a weak foundation has heightened concerns in Alaska about British Columbia’s mine safety standards.

Commercial fishermen, native organizations and the mayors of two Alaska communities say they are worried the Red Chris mine, now being built in northern British Columbia by the same company that owns Mount Polley, poses a similar risk.

In a joint statement, the Alaskans say they “want to have an equal seat at the table with Canada in discussions about how and if watersheds shared by both countries are developed.”

The Red Chris copper-gold mine is currently under construction near Iskut, B.C. It is located near the headwaters of the Stikine, one of the most important salmon rivers flowing into Southeast Alaska. Several other B.C. mines are proposed in the area.

“The Mount Polley tailings dam was approved by Canadian regulators to last in perpetuity, yet it failed in less than 20 years. This is more evidence that B.C.’s aggressive mining plans could lead to harm on our fish, water and jobs,” said Heather Hardcastle, a commercial salmon fisher based in Juneau.

“A similar accident at a transboundary mine like Red Chris could release large quantities of tailings that are more toxic than the Mount Polley spill,” said Mim McConnell, mayor of Sitka. “The Mount Polley disaster was a clear sign that B.C. cannot assure us transboundary waters and fish won’t be polluted by the province’s aggressive mining agenda.”

Mark Jensen, mayor of Petersburg, one of southeast Alaska’s largest fishing communities, said the report on the Mount Polley disaster “is a stark example of B.C.’s stewardship of a project that the government and the developer claimed was safe. We can’t let a similar accident taint the rivers of the transboundary region along the border between northwest B.C. and Southeast Alaska.”

Rob Sanderson Jr., co-chair of the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group, which represents 13 tribes in Alaska, said the B.C. report on Mount Polley “raises more concerns than it answers.”

The report, by an independent panel of geotechnical experts appointed by the B.C. government, found the tailings dam at Mount Polley collapsed because it had been built on a foundation that contained a layer of glacial till (fine sediment deposited by a glacier), which hadn’t been accounted for in the original engineering plan. As the dam grew higher to contain a growing amount of mine sludge, it increased pressure on the foundation until, after 18 years of safe operation, it suddenly gave way, releasing a flood of 10 million cubic metres of water and 4.5 cubic metres of fine sand.

B.C. Mines Minister Bill Bennett has repeatedly assured Alaska that the new mines being built in the northeast will be carefully monitored and built to high standards.

He said the Red Chris mine has been repeatedly examined and is safe.

“Red Chris is permitted and will be operating within days,” he said. “We have gone over their tailings impoundment facility six ways to Sunday … it has had a lot of oversight.”

Mr. Bennett said the Red Chris mine site is “completely different” than Mount Polley and he pointed out that First Nations in the region have accepted the design.

Steve Roberston, vice-president of corporate affairs for Imperial Metals, said the Red Chris facility was re-examined in the wake of the Mount Polley accident.

“Obviously there’s going to be a re-look at all the mining tailings dams in B.C. to make sure similar conditions don’t exist in those areas and we’ve already checked Red Chris and we know that this is a safe structure,” he said. “We take safety and the integrity of our tailings facilities with very great concern and we’re going to make sure that we build mines that are safe and that are not going to fail.”

With a report from Justine Hunter in Victoria
 
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion...ame+Mount+Polley+preceded/10782124/story.html

Vaughn Palmer: A ‘dangerous game’ at Mount Polley preceded disaster, according to senior engineer

‘Remember, if they lose the dam, the mine can’t operate anyways’

BY VAUGHN PALMER, VANCOUVER SUN COLUMNIST FEBRUARY 2, 2015

An aerial view of a barely visible excavator atop the Mount Polley tailings dam gives an idea of the size of the storage pond. The dam gave way near the town of Likely, B.C., on Aug. 5, 2014, polluting nearby waterways and lakes.
Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD , THE CANADIAN PRESS

VICTORIA — The ill-fated tailings dam at Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine was an improvised work in progress, built higher every year to hold back the growing volumes of water behind it.

“For years, dam raising had managed to stay one step ahead of the rising water,” wrote a trio of engineering experts in a report on the dam breach released Friday. “But on May 24, 2014, the water caught up.”

The spur was a heavy run-off from an abnormally high winter snow pack, followed by torrential rains. With the rising waters in the tailings pond threatening to over-top the dam itself, the mine operator put out a call on the 25th to AMEC, its engineering firm of record.

After arriving on the scene the following day, geotechnical engineer Dmitri Ostritchenko found plenty of cause for concern: wet spots on the embankment, seepage here and there, and a pond almost level with the core of the dam.

Two days later he reported by email to the company’s senior geotechnical engineer, Andrew Witte, that the situation had not much improved. “At the end of the day, the freeboard level is basically zero,” wrote the on-site engineer, referring to the gap between the water level and the crest of the dam.

Despite some effort to reduce the amount of water behind the dam, tailings were still being added to the pond because the mine was continuing to operate. “Basically there has not been much (de-watering),” he wrote, “as they are still focused on making sure the mine can operate.”

This was too much for Witte. The safe operating standard was nine tenths of a metre of freeboard at bare minimum. Mining operations had to take a back seat until that was restored. He directed Ostritchenko to remind the company of its obligations.

“Under this type of scenario they are supposed to stop discharging tailings and focus on de-watering to get 0.9 metre of freeboard again,” wrote the senior engineer. “If they are not removing water, they are in direct contravention of (what the province) expects.

“That is a dangerous game to play and we need to make sure that our butt is covered by telling them to pump water out of the tailings storage facility. We cannot support the ‘just keep operating in the danger zone attitude.’ Remember, if they lose the dam, the mine can’t operate anyways.”

They didn’t lose the dam — not then, anyway. That wouldn’t happen for another 10 weeks.

Instead, the rising water, the precarious state of the dam, and the urgings of the engineering firm galvanized the mine operator into action. The embankment was topped up, the water drained, and the situation stabilized by the end of May.

Still, it was a near-run thing. A near “over-topping failure” and “potential breach” of the dam, according to the report from the trio of experts.

They also highlighted factors that contributed to the near-miss. The climate model for the dam neglected to consider a worst-case weather scenario. “They did not account for specific wet year conditions.”

The amount of water stored in the tailings pond had increased 10-fold to 10 million cubic metres in just four years. Yet the company had only just obtained a permit for a treatment plant that would allow the release of three million cubic metres of water a year. “It is not clear to the panel why it took so long.”

Another area of concern was the failure to maintain a separating barrier of tailings — known as a “beach” — to prevent erosion of the earthen embankment from the rising water behind it.

Critically important because the structure was not designed as a water-retaining dam, though increasingly that is what it was doing. The report is replete with references to “chronic problems with maintaining the tailings beach.”

Key documents related to the concerns about the beach, and others connected to the near-over-topping of the embankment, were among the dozens excluded from the public record when the report was released Friday.

The exclusions were made at the request of the two continuing investigations into the dam failure, one by the provincial inspector of mines, the other by provincial conservation officers. Each may result in recommendations for charges.

Even with the exclusions, the engineering panel had plenty to say about the sorry state of affairs that preceded the dam failure last August.

The root cause was an undetected flaw under the section that breached. But overly steep slopes on the embankment, neglected beaches, inadequate safety margins, ad hoc planning, and the hefty volume of water behind the dam all contributed to making the failure much worse than it needed to be.

“The panel was disconcerted to find that, while the Mount Polley tailings dam failed because of an undetected weakness in the foundation, it could have failed by over-topping, which it almost did in May 2014. Or it could have failed by internal erosion, for which some evidence was discovered.

“Clearly, multiple failure modes were in progress, and they differed mainly in how far they had progressed down their respective failure pathways.”

Mount Polley was not a story of one flaw that went undetected for years with nothing to be done about it. Rather, it was characterized by a pattern of dubious behaviour, margins of safety that skirted the edge of the cliff, little thought of worst-case scenarios, all factors in a disaster waiting to happen.

vpalmer@vancouversun.com
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...arrants-executed-at-imperial-metals-1.2944169
Mount Polley spill: Search warrants executed at Imperial Metals
B.C. Conservation Service conducts joint investigation involving RCMP, Environment Canada and Fisheries
CBC News Posted: Feb 03, 2015 6:58 PM PT Last Updated: Feb 04, 2015 8:53 AM PT

The B.C. Conservation Service executed search warrants at the Mount Polley mine and the Vancouver offices of its owner Imperial Metals Tuesday night, in relation to the spill of 25 million cubic metres of waste from the mine's tailings pond last August.

Mount Polley spill blamed on design of embankment
Insp. Chris Doyle with the conservation service said the search warrants were issued to support a joint investigation by the B.C. Conservation Service, the RCMP, Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Imperial Metals search warrans
An investigator seizes evidence from the offices of Imperial Metals in downtown Vancouver. (CBC)

"The investigation primarily focuses on offences related to the Environment Management Act and the Federal Fisheries Act, but is not limited to these acts," he said.

Imperial Metals owns and operates the Mount Polley open pit copper/gold mine located in B.C.'s Cariboo region near the small town of Likely.

Mount Polley: First Nations urge B.C. not to cherry-pick from mine report advice
Last week, an independent investigation blamed the failure of the tailings pond on poor design, which didn't take into account the underlying instability of the earth below — a situation investigators likened to a "loaded gun."

Imperial Metals said at the time the construction of the tailings pond was "at all times carried out in accordance with design criteria provided by engineers and approved by the Ministry of Energy and Mines."

As the warrants were being executed, they issued a short statement downplaying the development.

hi-bc-120517-bill-bennett-4col
B.C.'s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett says the government will take action to prevent future tailings dam failures. (CBC)

​"The Company understands warrants to be a normal means of investigation, and cooperated fully with the regulatory authorities," the statement said.

First Nations Leaders in B.C. called a news conference earlier in the day urging the provincial government to implement all the recommendations made in the government review.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says there is a massive need for reform in the mining industry, and the independent panel's report offers a framework for change that must be implemented in its entirety.

The investigation made several recommendations to improve the safety of tailings dams, including updating the way they are designed, monitored and regulated in B.C.
 
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http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/0...ion-imperial-metals_n_6610802.html?1423079366

Mount Polley Mine Investigation Extends To Imperial Metals Office
CP | By Laura Kane and Cara McKenna, The Canadian Press

Posted: 02/04/2015 4:00 am EST Updated: 3 hours ago

MOUNT POLLEY

VANCOUVER - The B.C. Conservation Service has searched two offices of the company that owns the Mount Polley mine as part of an investigation into a tailings pond spill that gushed millions of cubic metres of wastewater into streams and rivers.

Imperial Metals Corp. (TSX:III) is being investigated by several agencies for possible violations of the Fisheries Act and the Environmental Management Act.

Insp. Chris Doyle of the conservation service said the company's office at the mine in B.C.'s central Interior and its Vancouver headquarters were searched Tuesday after warrants were served.

He said a major investigation is underway. Evidence gathered will be presented to provincial and federal prosecutors, who would determine whether to approve any charges.

Environment Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the RCMP are assisting in the investigation.

"I can't really go into any particulars," Doyle said of his agency's probe. "We don't want to jeopardize the investigation or any subsequent core proceedings."

He could not say which specific areas of the acts that Imperial Metals is suspected of violating.

The maximum penalty under the Environmental Management Act is a $1 million fine or up to six months jail time. Under the Fisheries Act, the maximum penalty is a $500,000 fine or up to two years imprisonment.

The share price of Imperial Metals tumbled Wednesday to $8.72, down from yesterday's closing price of $9.23.

Steve Robertson, Imperial's vice-president of corporate affairs, said the company is co-operating with authorities and the warrants are a normal part of the investigation.

"The timing was a surprise but we of course know that in large investigations like the one that's going on into what happened at Mount Polley, warrants of that type are common," he said.

He said the fact that the investigation is moving forward is a positive step, as the company hopes it helps to dispel "rumours" and "conjecture" swirling around the dam's collapse.

An independent report released last week blamed poor dam design for the collapse at the open pit gold and copper mine. The report said that building the mine's tailings site on a sloped glacial lake failed to account for drainage and erosion.

"I think that what happens, just as it did with the report that came out last Friday, they did a thorough investigation and came up with the result that there was a single cause of the failure and that was a design flaw," said Robertson.

"I think that as we move forward with these other investigations, eventually we'll get to the real story and the real truth.... Stakeholders, industry and the company will have a lot of comfort knowing that there's some finality and we can get this behind us and then move forward."

The spill on Aug. 4 last year released 24 million cubic metres of wastewater into a series of salmon-bearing waterways, raising concerns about the potential impact on humans and putting the entire mining industry under scrutiny.

The mine has been closed since the spill, but Robertson said the company has applied for a temporary plan that would allow it to deposit tailings into one of its pits, avoiding the tailings storage facility.

He said the provincial government is processing its applications, while Imperial Metals consults with regulators, First Nations and other stakeholders.

"We're expecting this will move forward and we'll get into a public consultation period and we're hoping to have a restart sometime in the second quarter," said Robertson.

Re-opening the mine would allow the company to retain its large workforce and provide much-needed cash flow to cover the substantial cleanup costs, he said.

Imperial Metals started operations at its new Red Chris mine in northern B.C. this week. The province has issued an interim permit to begin processing copper and gold ore at the mine, but it will have to apply for a full permit at a later date.

Environment Canada issued an emailed statement that said it could not comment on an ongoing investigation, but that the federal government takes environmental protection very seriously.

"We expect companies to operate in a responsible manner that protects the environment. Spills are unacceptable," the agency said.
 
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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Se...ount+Polley+investigation/10785041/story.html

Mount Polley mine offices raided as investigation continues

Imperial Metals offices and mine site were raided Tuesday to obtain evidence in the provincial and federal investigation into the Mount Polley mine tailings dam failure.

The search warrant was executed as part of a joint investigation by Environment Canada, its enforcement branch, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the RCMP, said B.C. Conservation Office inspector Chris Doyle.

While Doyle said he could not say on whom or where the warrant was executed, Imperial Metals confirmed late Tuesday a search warrant was executed on its offices in downtown Vancouver and at the Mount Polley mine site near Likely in the B.C. Interior, 100 kilometres northeast of Williams Lake.

In downtown Vancouver Tuesday evening, uniformed conservation officers — some who wore what appeared to be bulletproof vests — could be spotted looking through Imperial Metals’ offices and documents on the second floor of 580 Hornby St.

Dave Hill, a security guard at the building, said officers had locked down the floor. He said they went up carrying bags and it “looked like they’ll be there a while.”

Doyle said he could not say what information they had used to obtain the search warrant or elaborate on why action was being taken now. The dam failure occurred on Aug. 4.

Doyle said they were gathering evidence to be presented to provincial and federal Crown prosecutors.

The investigation could lead to charges and fines.

“The investigation primarily focuses on offences with respect to the environmental management act (B.C. legislation) and the federal Fisheries Act, but is not limited to those acts,” Doyle said in an interview.

He said the investigation team uses “myriad” techniques to gather evidence, including interviewing witnesses and gathering technical evidence. “Because it’s still an ongoing investigation we don’t want to release any particulars that might jeopardize the investigation,” said Doyle.

In a written statement, Imperial Metals said the search warrants related to an investigation into possible breaches of the Fisheries Act.

“The company understands warrants to be a normal means of investigation, and cooperated fully with the regulatory authorities,” said the short statement.

John Horgan, the leader of the B.C. NDP, asked how the Liberal government had not already gathered “every possible relevant document from the company.”

“We don’t yet have details about the basis for warrants, but I’m very concerned it is only happening now — six months after the disaster. Would not both the engineers’ report and the offence investigation benefited from having Imperial Metals’ documents earlier?”

The execution of the search warrants comes on the heels of the release last week of the findings of an expert engineering panel into the cause of the tailings dam failure.

The three-member panel, chaired by University of Alberta professor emeritus Norbert Morgenstern, concluded the root cause of the failure was a design problem that failed to account for a weak glacial soil layer beneath the foundation of the dam. The panel also had other concerns, including that the dam slopes were steeper than original designed and a failure to create proper beaches from finely ground rock (called tailings) meant to provide a safety buffer between water and the dam.

Knight Piesold designed the dam in the late 1990s and was engineer of record until 2011, when AMEC took over engineering oversight of the dam.

The dam failure released millions of cubic metres of water and tailings containing potentially toxic metals into the Quesnel Lake watershed.

The wave of water scoured and widened nine-kilometre long Hazeltine Creek, carrying away trees, foliage and dirt along with the tailings.

The creek was home to spawning trout and Coho salmon.

The tailings also surged into Quesnel Lake, the migration path of more than one million sockeye salmon. A plume of sediment estimated at “many” tens of square kilometres by University of B.C. scientists has been turning the lake and Quesnel River a cloudy green colour and elevating levels of metals at times above aquatic health guidelines. It has sparked concerns from residents and First Nations on the long-term environmental impacts of the dam failure and tailings spill.

The office of the chief inspector of mines also has an investigation underway into the dam failure, expected to be complete by June.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com

mrobinson@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Se...vestigation/10785041/story.html#ixzz3QuEQpyaA
 
The spur was a heavy run-off from an abnormally high winter snow pack, followed by torrential rains. With the rising waters in the tailings pond threatening to over-top the dam itself, the mine operator put out a call on the 25th to AMEC, its engineering firm of record.

After arriving on the scene the following day, geotechnical engineer Dmitri Ostritchenko found plenty of cause for concern: wet spots on the embankment, seepage here and there, and a pond almost level with the core of the dam.

Two days later he reported by email to the company’s senior geotechnical engineer, Andrew Witte, that the situation had not much improved. “At the end of the day, the freeboard level is basically zero,” wrote the on-site engineer, referring to the gap between the water level and the crest of the dam.

Despite some effort to reduce the amount of water behind the dam, tailings were still being added to the pond because the mine was continuing to operate. “Basically there has not been much (de-watering),” he wrote, “as they are still focused on making sure the mine can operate.”

This was too much for Witte. The safe operating standard was nine tenths of a metre of freeboard at bare minimum. Mining operations had to take a back seat until that was restored. He directed Ostritchenko to remind the company of its obligations.

“Under this type of scenario they are supposed to stop discharging tailings and focus on de-watering to get 0.9 metre of freeboard again,” wrote the senior engineer. “If they are not removing water, they are in direct contravention of (what the province) expects.

“That is a dangerous game to play and we need to make sure that our butt is covered by telling them to pump water out of the tailings storage facility. We cannot support the ‘just keep operating in the danger zone attitude.’ Remember, if they lose the dam, the mine can’t operate anyways.”

They didn’t lose the dam — not then, anyway. That wouldn’t happen for another 10 weeks.
 
"I think that what happens, just as it did with the report that came out last Friday, they did a thorough investigation and came up with the result that there was a single cause of the failure and that was a design flaw," said Robertson. Certainly a different opinion than the prior post?
 
terrin said:
"I think that what happens, just as it did with the report that came out last Friday, they did a thorough investigation and came up with the result that there was a single cause of the failure and that was a design flaw," said Robertson. Certainly a different opinion than the prior post?
Click to expand...
I agree. "single" cause - ya, right! Operating procedures are the glaring omission in this statement. Robertson is of course Imperial's vice-president of corporate affairs - so I would expect his lawyers coached him to stay away from admitting liabilities.
 
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http://www.terracestandard.com/news/290969391.html

Northwestern B.C. mine receives discharge permit
by Josh Massey - Terrace Standard

posted Feb 5, 2015 at 1:00 PM— updated Feb 5, 2015 at 4:22 PM

AMID controversy surrounding the Mount Polley mine dam failure report released last Friday, mine owner Imperial Metals has been successful in receiving a permit to begin filling a tailings facility at its Red Chris gold and copper project northeast of Terrace.

“Red Chris has received an interim approval to operate the TSF (Tailings Storage Facility) in order to test the mill but not to go into production,” said a statement from the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The permit is effective from February through May, after which Red Chris “will have to apply to the Chief Inspector [of Mines] for approval and will have to show that the TSF has performed as designed.”

Initial operations of the mine, which was scheduled to go into service last year, were on hold as the company financed a third party review of the tailings facility using a company chosen by the Tahltan Central Council which acts as the governing voice on Tahltan traditional territory.

The review, released in October 2014, was part of a joint management agreement signed between the Tahltan Central Council and Imperial Metals in August 2014 following the Mount Polley disaster which spilled 25 million cubic metres of toxic tailings fluid into Quesnel Lake in the Cariboo area.

The independent review noted that glacial till and sand underneath the proposed Red Chris tailings facility was a concern and that the foundation soils were “a major design issue.”

“This valley is underlain by over 90m of permeable glacial fluvial sands and gravels with interlayers of at least one glacial till unit,” said the October 2014 report.

An investigation into the Mount Polley tailings facility failure released last week indicated that loose glacial till was a central reason for the breaking of that dam.

The mines ministry says it is satisfied with the actions taken by Imperial Metals at Red Chris to mitigate the danger noted in the third party review and has granted the company a temporary effluent discharge permit so it can begin testing the mine's mill which will process ore.

“Red Chris and their consultants have done extensive review of their subsurface hydrogeology and have made adjustments as per third party review recommendations,” said the ministry statement.

According to ministry spokesperson David Haslam, "this additional work has resulted in a better understaning of the local and regional hydrogeology, however the basic conceptual model did not fundamentally change."

The tests being done between February and May are related to the mill which will crush up the rock in order to extract the copper and gold. The effectiveness of the tailings facility will also be monitored at this time, said the ministry.

The October 2014 Red Chris review also noted that a failure of the Red Chris tailing impoundment would be more severe than the Mount Polley spill because of the acid-generating nature of the rocks.

According to the Red Chris Tailings Impoundment Review Agreement negotiated in August, the Tahltan Central Council has to give consent to Red Chris before it can receive its effluent permit. This consent “will depend on the outcome of the review and the company's actions to implement and address the conclusions and recommendations of the review.”

Tahltan officials have yet to respond to the issuing of the temporary tailings permit.

The history of the Red Chris mine proposal has seen opposition at several points expressed by former Tahltan Central Council president Annita McPhee, who eventually warmed up to the idea, as well as the Tahltan activist group the Klabona Keepers who blockaded access late last year. The proposed mine has also survived through dips and rebounds in the commodity prices over the last few years.

The major owner of Imperial Metals and its Red Chris mine is Murray Edwards who is also part owner of the Calgary Flames and has major stakes in the Alberta oil sands.
 
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/02/07/A...ce=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=070215

After Mount Polley: 'This is Indigenous Law'
Six months after dam breach calamity, First Nation takes the lead on mining regulation.
By Jerome Turner, Today, Ricochet

Mount_Polley
Imperial Metals-owned Mount Polley mine became site of most devastating tailings storage facility disaster in Canadian history.

Thursday marked six months since the Imperial Metals-owned Mount Polley mine became the site of the most devastating tailings storage facility disaster in Canadian history, when nearly 25 million cubic metres of toxic mine effluent waste and chemicals spilled.

The spill damaged both Hazeltine Creek and Quesnel Lake, which reside within the traditional territorial boundaries of the Secwepemc Nation.

An official report on why the spill happened from the Mount Polley mine itself was set for release at the end of January, but the B.C. government altered the regulations. Now a report from Mount Polley isn't due until 2017.

Such moves from the provincial government have spurred the Secwepemc, and specifically the Xat'sūll (Soda Creek) First Nation, to takes steps to ensure nothing like Mount Polley happens again.

The Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw leadership council, which is composed of four northern Secwepemc bands, finalized a mining policy http://www.fairmining.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/NStQ-Mining-Policy_Nov19.20141.pdf dated Nov. 19, 2014. Formation of the mining policy began in 2012, but the Mount Polley spill provided the council the motivation to finish it.

''One thing I want to make perfectly clear is this policy isn't a wish-list,'' said Jacinda Mack, leadership council co-ordinator. ''This is prescriptive. This is indigenous law. We did very thorough research and took more than two years to release the final document.''

The leadership council had mining experts and lawyers comb through the policy, which is now part of the partnership between mining proponents, the province, and the northern Shuswap. Mining proponents have a definite baseline framework to abide by on Secwepemc territory, Mack added.

''This goes above and beyond anything the B.C. government currently requires from a mining company,'' Mack said. ''We have compiled the best mining practices in the world into one document.''

First Nation claims 'inherent jurisdication'

The 54-page policy outlines exactly what the Secwepemc expect to happen within any current or future mine on its more than 53,000 square kilometres of traditional territory.

''The Secwepemc Nation has un-surrendered and un-extinguished title and rights throughout the Secwepemc traditional territory known as Secwepemculecw,'' the policy reads. ''The Secwepemc Nation has the inherent jurisdiction to provide stewardship of Secwepemculecw and to ensure its sustainability and viability for future generations.''

B.C.'s Minister of Energy and Mines, Bill Bennett, declined to comment on the policy. A spokesperson told Ricochet by email that the ''government is reviewing the northern Shuswap's mining policy document'' and is ''committed to working with First Nations so they can benefit from economic activity in their traditional territories.

''The Province continues to encourage First Nations to be involved in all stages of mineral development, from exploration to operations and reclamation. Acting in partnership is the best way to provide a meaningful role in land and resource management for First Nations, and to provide for benefit-sharing and new economic opportunities. We will work constructively with the Xat'sūll First Nations to develop a shared vision for land and resource use.''

A partnership is exactly what the Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw leadership council is seeking in the release and implementation of the mining policy, and for that to truly take place, their involvement must become more than an afterthought, Mack said.

''We were never consulted when any mine on our territory was built,'' she said. ''We took that into consideration as well as the calls from the public to ensure the devastation caused by the Mount Polley spill is cleaned and never repeated.''

Judith Sayers, a strategic advisor and adjunct professor of business at the University of Victoria, has reviewed the mining policy and stresses the importance of it and similar documents from First Nations across Canada.

''As far as governance goes, it's good for any First Nation to create policy about mining, forestry, tourism or any use of land is necessary to move toward self-sufficiency,'' said Sayers, who is from the Hupacasath Nation. ''If you want to do business with us, this is how we want it done. And you decide if you want to do that or negotiate ways you want it done differently. Of course some companies may be shown the door, but that's business.''

'Precedent setting' for other First Nations

Part of the mining policy requires proponents to pay for the leadership council to conduct its own environmental review of any incident or proposal, with the council having the authority to accept or deny applications independent of non-First Nations authorities.

''Proponents have to know who they are attempting to enter into agreements with and policies like this, I think, can only be helpful in setting the table for negotiations,'' Sayers said. ''If all parties were at the table for Prosperity mines [projects proposed on Tsilhqot'in land], it may not have had to go to court three times.''

''We understand this is potentially precedent setting,'' Mack said. ''We've had other First Nations calling and asking if they can use our policy. The answer to that is yes. Change the name wherever (North Secwepemc te Qelmucw) appears. The more we put pressure on mining companies and the province the better for everyone.''

The Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw leadership council have a representative who worked with a panel to uncover why the Mount Polley disaster happened.

A glacial deposit, which was not found in testing prior to construction of the tailings enclosure, collapsed 30 to 35 metres below the corner of the tailings storage facility. Plus the slope of the dam and base of the tailings storage facility contributed to engineering failures, according to the report.

Imperial Metals is pushing to reopen Mount Polley, but the leadership council says there is still much to do before that can be considered viable.

In an on-air interview on Jan. 30, following the release of the Mount Polley report, Minister Bennett failed to mention the Northern Secwepemc te Qelmucw report or the fact that the new mining policy is in effect after being adopted by the leadership council. He did say the province is working with industry representatives to resume production at Mount Polley.

''There remains much work ahead before we are even close to that discussion,'' Mack said. ''We are looking at several years of response and engagement in regards to direct impacts of this disaster. We are in no rush to push ahead and reopen.

''We are in the process of implementing our (council's) mining policy, and anticipate phasing in aspects of the policy in the next several months. I do not have details yet of what that would include, but it is our expectation that once we start implementing policy, we will follow up with the companies and government about compliance/non-compliance and next steps with regard to our title and rights.''

Sayers cautioned every First Nation to remember the reason and impact of any industrial business contract.

''These agreements belong to the people, meaning today's generation and future generations, because they have to ensure anything that happens on the land allows traditional use to continue and even improve,'' she said. ''Essentially it's the collective rights of a given community that will be affected by a mine.''

Sayers added that, to increase economic certainty in current and future development in the province, lands should be transferred back to their respective people.

''People have to learn how to do business the right way. And on First Nations territory, the right way is increasingly being initiated by aboriginal people based on right and title.''
 
http://www.kstk.org/2015/02/06/b-c-mine-gets-ok-to-test-mill-fill-tailings-pond/

B.C. mine gets OK to test mill and tailings pond
by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News
February 6, 2015 10:56 am

The Red Chris Mine site is about 120 miles northeast of Petersburg. The mine is testing its mill and tailings pond dam under an interim permit issued Feb. 2. (Courtesy Imperial Metals website)

A new copper and gold mine in Southeast Alaska’s Stikine River watershed is a significant step closer to opening. The news comes in the wake of a report saying another mine owned by the same company designed its dam poorly, which led to its collapse.

00:0000:00
The Red Chris is near the Iskut River, which drains into the Stikine River. (Courtesy Imperial Metals website)
British Columbia’s Ministry of Mines has issued an interim permit allowing the Red Chris Mine to begin testing its mill and filling its tailings pond.

The mine, owned by Vancouver-based Imperial Metals, is about 120 miles northeast of Petersburg. It’s on the Iskut River, a tributary of the Stikine, a salmon-rich waterway that enters the ocean near Petersburg and Wrangell.

Officials at Imperial Metals’ Vancouver, B.C., headquarters did not return requests for information or comment. In fact, they have not returned any of our calls during the past eight months.

But a Feb. 2nd letter from the mines ministry details what its interim permit allows.

Spokesman David Haslam said the mill, where ore is processed, can only test its equipment, not begin full operation. It says the tailings pond can only be partially filled. And it requires a response plan, in case the dam leaks or breaks.

Critics on both sides of the border say a failure would damage the Stikine River.

The testing and filling come as supporters and critics digest a report on last year’s mine tailings-dam failure at Mount Polley, another Imperial Metals mine in eastern B.C.

“If we’re going to ensure these future failures don’t occur, the panel recognizes that we can’t continue business as usual,” said Steven Vick, a Colorado geotechnical engineer and a member of a panel that released the Mount Polley report.

He spoke at a press conference addressing that report, which said poor design led to the Aug. 4 collapse.

“It’s not enough to just tweak around the edges of what we’ve been doing and say we promise to do better in the future,” he said.

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Mining Program Manager Guy Archibald is among Alaskans concerned about the new mine.

“The initial inspection of the Red Chris Dam after the Mount Polley disaster showed that it had a real high rate of leakage,” he said.

Red Chris plans to eventually build five dams to handle waste rock and water over the 30-year life of its open-pit mine.

“And the company maintained that if they were allowed to fill it, the fine particles in those tailings would block those leaks. But they did not offer any supporting data that that would be true,” Archibald said.

It’s the same concern critics have about a half-dozen or more projects planned for the region.

“They all are large, acid-generating mines that are going to produce billions of tons of toxic tailings,” said Rivers Without Borders’ Chris Zimmer.

The acid is created when waste rock reacts with water. That releases dissolved lead, selenium, cadmium and barium, which can also hurt fish. So can copper.

“And the big question all along, and it’s again been raised by Mount Polley, is how do we know those tailings dams are going to be able to contain that toxic waste, that it’s not going to leak out, and it’s not going to pollute our rivers and affect our resources,” he said.

The mines ministry says Red Chris mill tests will use rock that does not generate acid. In full operation, it will.

The mine has been extracting and stockpiling ore for a number of months. The interim permit lasts through May. Mine officials have said they hope to get their final permit and begin full operations by then.

The permit was issued as British Columbia doubled the budget for its mining agency.

Premiere Christy Clark told a recent Vancouver industry gathering that the money would help speed development.

“We’re going to make sure that we’re increasing resources so that we have more boots on the group, performing more inspections, making sure you get what you need. But also making sure, in light of what’s happened at Mount Polley, that we all recognize our greater responsibility to work together and ensure that mining is done safely,” she said.

The Red Chris Mine was supposed to open last year. But after the Mount Polley disaster, its owners agreed to wait for further examination of its tailings-pond dam.

That was done in conjunction with the Tahltan Central Council, the tribal government for the area. Their report raised serious concerns about the dam’s safety and made more than 20 recommendations for improvements.

The council did not return requests for comment. But B.C.’s mining ministry says Tahltan leaders support the temporary permit and will continue to consult on final approval.
 

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http://juneauempire.com/opinion/2015-02-12/empire-editorial-mining-disasters-must-end-mount-polley

Empire Editorial: Mining disasters must end with Mount Polley
Posted: February 12, 2015 - 12:06am

JUNEAU EMPIRE
Two.

That’s how many tailings dams holding back mine waste are expected to fail every decade in British Columbia.

Thirty.

That’s the number of proposed mines and sites under advanced exploration in British Columbia right now.

Four thousand.

That’s how many Olympic-sized pools worth of toxic sludge spilled out of the retention basin at the Mount Polley Mine on Aug. 4, 2014.

If you’re not too concerned about these numbers, you should be. If you’ve glazed over news reports about the recent transboundary mining efforts across the border from Southeast Alaska, it’s time to sit up and pay attention. There are big plans afoot — some with proposals eclipsing the Hoover Dam — that have the potential to decimate our way of life.

On Jan. 30 an independent review panel, established by British Columbia’s government through the Ministry of Energy and Mines with support from the T’exelc and Xat’sull First Nations, found that design flaws were to blame for British Columbia’s Mount Polley Mine tailings dam breach. The panel found the dam’s design didn’t fully account for environmental factors like glacial geology, it suffered from “overtopping” and internal erosion of the earthen walls.

In other words, if the dam wasn’t destined to fail how it did, there were multiple other factors that would have eventually caused the same result.

In the report, the panel “firmly reject(ed) any notion that business as usual can continue.” Instead, as noted in a Feb. 6 Empire article, the group recommended “B.C.’s mines change their tailings facilities so water and tailings are maintained separately, with water kept in a conventional water dam.”

“Simply put, dam failures are reduced by reducing the number of dams that can fail,” the report stated.

As Alaskans who care about the health of our natural resources and as residents of a region where mines have been done well, we must ask that the recommendations of the Mount Polley report be implemented.

If not for all the aforementioned reasons, here’s why: One hundred twenty-three.

That’s how many active tailings dams, containing both tailings materials and water, are operating in British Columbia.

The effects of these dams go beyond borders. When they fail, mining gets a bad name. Our mines, run responsibly, suffer. Our economy suffers from their accidents.

B.C. officials should develop standards and guidelines specifically for tailings dams, or move toward filtered tailings technology or “dry stack” tailings altogether, much like what is done at Southeast Alaska mines. Right now, mines across our border are using 100-year-old designs and every negative news piece now and in the future will harm responsible projects here in Alaska.

Second, we ask for international intervention under the Boundary Waters Treaty. It’s time for the International Joint Commission to get involved. Our politicians have sent letters, our communities have formed working groups, concerned citizens have spoken out and resolutions have been signed. What more will it take?

Meanwhile, it appears large-scale mining efforts will continue for our neighbors to the east. Imperial Metals, the company behind Mount Polley, last week opened the Red Chris mine up the Stikine River watershed, which flows into Southeast just north of Wrangell. As planned, that tailings facility “will hold 300 million tons of tailings and will not follow the Mount Polley review panel’s recommendations,” according to the Empire report.

Even bigger dams and tailings facilities are planned in the near future. The time to act is now, before these are built.

Zero.

That should be the number of accidents we allow. If we permit another Mount Polley, the consequences won’t be counted in numbers. They’ll be counted in ruined lives.
 
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http://www.vancouversun.com/Profess...needs+tempered+UVic+study/10834642/story.html

‘Professional’ oversight of environment needs to be tempered: UVic study

Shift in past decade has put more decision making into hands of those hired by industry

BY GORDON HOEKSTRA, VANCOUVER SUN FEBRUARY 22, 2015

This reliance on professionals has been raised as a concern in Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine tailings dam failure last summer.
Photograph by: JONATHAN HAYWARD , THE CANADIAN PRESS

Much of B.C.’s environmental deregulation goes too far in handing over matters of public interest to those employed by industry, says a University of Victoria Environmental Law Centre study.

The shift to so-called professional reliance in the past decade has put more decision making and responsibility into the hands of professionals such as consulting engineers, and allowed the B.C. government to reduce staffing.

This reliance on professionals has been raised as a concern in Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley mine tailings dam failure last summer, but also in areas such as forestry.

“There are certain roles that government just has to maintain as the trustee of Crown land. So, I think it’s gone too far in taking away that essential government role,” said report author Mark Haddock, a UVic law instructor.

Haddock examined 27 regulatory areas in which professional reliance plays a role, including landfills, agricultural waste, water wells and residential sewage systems. He analyzed legislation and also conducted interviews with government staff and professionals.

The 150-page study concluded some regulatory systems are well-structured, such as that for contaminated sites. It has clear professional and competency requirements, retains decision-making for government and includes audits of decisions.

But others, including the regulatory system for forestry, are “unduly loose” and fail to address concerns such as ensuring proper tree and foliage buffers between water bodies and logged areas, a concern also raised earlier by the B.C. Ombudsperson.

The UVic report said the regulatory system that oversees mining in B.C. has broad discretionary powers that retain a significant degree of government authority.

However, the system also relies on the expertise and diligence of professional engineers to inspect and report on tailings dam safety issues, and it is unclear whether they have power or authority to require mining operations to make changes, noted the study.

The report says to determine whether professional reliance is effective, the system should be examined against a set of 10 criteria that include a duty by professionals to report non-compliance, government enforcement and ground rules for conflict of interest between professionals and the companies that hire them.

Haddock said tightening government’s oversight would not be complicated, and would include introducing more prescriptive standards and a mechanism to ensure companies carry out recommendations from professionals.

An engineering panel appointed by the B.C. government made such recommendations after its examination of the Mount Polley tailings dam failure, calling for the province to create more prescriptive regulations.

B.C. Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Minister Steve Thomson has said he believes professional reliance is working, but is willing to discuss concerns.

Thomson has said the government is not convinced that additional government bureaucracy is necessarily the best way to achieve better stewardship of provincial lands and environmental values.

Thomson has noted the government is working on a policy that would put a greater focus on the assessment of cumulative effects both by government resource managers and industry professionals. The policy also includes ensuring that First Nations interests are taken into consideration.

B.C. Energy and Mining Minister Bill Bennett has said there will be a review of mining regulations following the Mount Polley engineering panel report recommendations.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com

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http://www.kcaw.org/2015/02/26/state-considers-b-c-mines-as-promoters-plan-visit/

State considers B.C. mines as promoters plan visit
by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News
February 26, 2015 11:03 am

2-25-15 Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott sits at his desk, beneath the state seal 1 full
Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott sits at his desk, beneath the state seal Feb. 26. mallott heads up a new administration transboundary mines working group. (Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News)

The Walker-Mallott administration announced Wednesday that it’s set up a working group to address the transboundary mining boom near Southeast Alaska. The news comes as British Columbia’s mine-regulation agency plans meetings with Alaska fishermen and tribal groups.

Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott head ups the working group, which includes commissioners of the state departments of Natural Resources, Environmental Conservation and Fish and Game.

It’s looking into longstanding concerns about British Columbia mines slated to open or reopen on rivers that flow through Southeast Alaska.

“We view the entire range of activity on that side, which can affect the waters and the habitat of those river corridors, as important to Alaska’s interests and to our national interests and we will engage and pursue that interest vigorously,” he says.

Mallott says the group is just getting started and is gathering information from regulators, critics and supporters.

A new transboundary mines group, Inside Passage Waterkeeper, recently petitioned the administration to seek government-to-government talks with British Columbia’s premier.

The group wants the governor to ask for a moratorium on new tailings storage dams, including one being tested at the Red Chris Mine in the Stikine River watershed.

Mallott says he’s not yet ready to pursue any particular course of action.

“My desire is that we not seek specific responses until we understand fully what we are engaged with. But that doesn’t mean that anything is off the table, either,” he says.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is an ardent advocate of mining. She’s added staff to the provincial mining agency to speed permitting, so new projects can open sooner.

British Columbia Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett. (Courtesy miningandexploration.ca)
Bill Bennett, her energy and mines minister, came to Anchorage in November to explain his government’s approach and actions.

He met with state officials and addressed Alaska’s mining association. But says he realizes he was not meeting with the right people.

“We need to make a second trip. Whether I go along on that trip or not is still up in the air. But we certainly need to reach out and give the people of Southeast Alaska an opportunity to meet and talk to our officials,” he says.

Bennett wants to engage fisheries and tribal groups, where provincial officials can explain their mine-review process. It’s unclear whether environmental groups will be included.

“We’re not really going to come to Alaska and be lectured,” he says.

Details of mine ministry’s visit, such as dates and locations, are not set.

But fishermen and tribal members are among those most strongly protesting mineral development near cross-border rivers.

“We would welcome Mining Minister Bill Bennett with open arms. That’s one thing that’s been lacking is consultation and transparency,” says Rob Sanderson Jr., who co-chairs the United Tribal Transboundary Mining Work Group and is a vice president of the Tlingit-Haida Central Council.

Both groups cite August’s Mount Polley tailings-dam breach in eastern British Columbia. A report reviewing what went wrong there estimated a similar dam would fail every five years, releasing hazardous water, silt and rock.

Sanderson says that raises questions about the future.

“We’re doing this to protect our environment for our children and grandchildren and the yet unborn. We want them to enjoy the same things that we are enjoying right now – pristine rivers and clean water,” he says.

State officials at a lower level are already talking to British Columbia’s mining ministry.

Department of Natural Resources Large Mine Project Manager Kyle Moselle says he urged staff to travel to Southeast when they met in Vancouver in January.

“The point that I made to them or stressed to them was that many of the stakeholders that I’ve talked with … feel frustrated or disenfranchised from British Columbia’s administrative process, their environmental review process,” he says.

British Columbia has also recommended the issue be put before the Pacific Northwest Economic Region. That’s a cross-border development think-tank.

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Mining Coordinator Guy Archibald, who is also part of Inside Passage Waterkeeper, says that’s not the best approach.

“They’re an economic development organization and they don’t really have any working groups for environmental protection,” he says.

Meanwhile, the state’s new working group will meet again in a few weeks.

Lt. Gov. Mallott, its chairman, says while he hopes it will have an impact, it faces limits.

“Alaska has no triggers to pull that would allow immediate action,” he says.
 
http://m.juneauempire.com/opinion/2...-words-carry-little-weight-alaskans#gsc.tab=0

Sunday, March 1, 2015
My Turn: Minister Bennett's words carry little weight for Alaskans
By MATT BOLINE
FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Latest by Guy Archibald 5 hours 26 min ago
A recent editorial in the Juneau Empire by British Columbia Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett is a slap in the face to we Alaskans who derive our livelihoods from healthy fisheries.

For months now, we (Alaska’s congressional delegation, its largest and most powerful tribal organizations, municipalities, and fishing and tourism organizations) have hammered on the U.S. State Department, the only entity with any international jurisdiction, to help us secure protection for our salmon, clean water, and jobs that are under threat from large-scale development in these globally significant watersheds that flow from B.C. into Alaska.

Wonky as it sounds, here is precisely what Alaskans want, and why Minister Bennett’s words are nothing short of a patronizing insult that seeks to delegitimize our very valid concerns: We want the State Department to activate the International Joint Commission on this issue. Experts agree that the IJC is the only entity that can handle this complicated international issue, as its task is resolving transboundary water disputes between the United States and Canada. Yet, in his Feb. 24 “My Turn,” Bennett cavalierly dismissed the call for an IJC intervention, but at the same time fails to provide any constructive ideas of his own regarding how to move forward.

What Bennett doesn’t apparently understand is that our livelihoods are under threat as B.C. rapidly advances its pro-mining agenda along the border. More than 10 large-scale, acid-generating mines threaten these international and globally significant salmon watersheds, including but not limited to the Taku, Stikine and Unuk. In the wake of B.C.’s own catastrophic failure of the Mount Polley dam, are Alaskans supposed to be satisfied with sending in comments that Canada has absolutely no obligation to read or consider?

Bennett’s boasts of transboundary cooperation when it comes to permitting large mines in Canada are a joke. He uses the recent Canadian approval of the KSM mine near Ketchikan, which is comparable in size to Pebble, as an example and stated that Alaska participated in that process through a “technical working group”. Does allowing one state official to be involved in teleconferences and allowing the state of Alaska to submit public comments really carry weight? In fact, Canada outright rejected the call from thousands of Alaskans (and Canadians), former Gov. Sean Parnell, Alaska’s congressional delegation, Southeast legislators, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a much higher level of scrutiny of the KSM project. Canada greenlighted KSM in December.

Most recently the “Mount Polley report” came out. This geotechnical investigation of what caused the catastrophic failure of the tailings dam illuminated a host of design flaws that ultimately sent 6.6 billion gallons of toxic sludge into a tributary of the Fraser River, one of Canada’s most important salmon producers. The report said B.C. was using 100-year-old technology to manage mine waste and predicted that two tailings dam failures will happen in B.C. every decade if no changes are made. These disasters could taint the Taku, Stikine and Unuk unless the State Department acts soon.

Bennett’s article tries to defend his decision to allow the Red Chris mine to begin operations within days of the Mount Polley report coming out. Red Chris, owned by Imperial Metals, the same company responsible for the Mount Polley disaster, lies in the headwaters of the salmon-rich Stikine River that reaches tidewater at Wrangell. The tailings facility at Red Chris has a similar design as that of Mount Polley, but it’s larger and will contain acid-generating rock. In his editorial, Bennett downplays the significance of this.

The Mount Polley report recommended the use of dry-stack tailings facilities instead of watered tailings impoundments. Dry stacking is more expensive, but it’s safer for the environment. Bennett committed himself to fully implementing the report’s recommendations. And yet, Red Chris is moving ahead with a Mount Polley-style dam.

Thanks for trying to address our concerns, Minister Bennett. But your hallow words aren’t going to cut it. We need the State Department to step it up — and now — before loaded Canadian guns go off in Alaskan waters.

• Matt Boline is a Juneau resident and works as a local fly fishing guide.
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...rent-from-mount-polley-bill-bennett-1.2978334

Red Chris tailings pond 'totally different' from Mount Polley: Bill Bennett
Minister of Mines Bill Bennett says independent experts have signed off on design for tailings pond
By The Early Edition, CBC News Posted: Mar 02, 2015 8:55 AM PT Last Updated: Mar 02, 2015 8:55 AM PT

A photo shows the excavation of the tailings impoundment area at Imperial Metals's Red Chris gold and copper property in northern B.C. A Tahltan spokesperson said the design of the pond is the same as that of the tailings pond that failed at Imperial's Mount Polley gold and copper mine. (Imperial Metals)


Bill Bennett on Red Chris mine 9:40

Red Chris mine worries Alaskan fisher 9:08

B.C.'s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said he's confident the tailings pond at the proposed Red Chris mine won't fall to the same fate as the one at the Mount Polley mine.

Read more about the Mount Polley tailings pond spill
"It's a totally different design in terms of the tailings storage facility itself. Mount Polley had a two kilometre square facility with four man-made dams. At Red Chris you have the natural contour of the valley so you have two sides where you don't need a dam. You've got one in because the valley runs downhill," he told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

Bennett said independent engineers, engineers from Imperial Metals — the company behind the proposal, and engineers from the Tahltan First Nation have all signed off on the design.

Last week, the B.C. government granted Imperial Metals, which is the same company behind the Mount Polley mine, an interim permit to test the tailings pond at the Red Chris site.

That raised concerns from fishermen in Alaska, who are downstream from the proposal.

"We were dumb founded. I think our jaws dropped when we first heard about the Mount Polley incident to see a tailings facility that's very similar to the one at Mount Polley that has to hold back water and tailings basically forever to see that the B.C. government granted that interim permit — it's really a slap in the face," said commercial fisherman Heather Hardcastle.

Bennett said the B.C. government has consulted the Alaskan state government on the Red Chris mine and will continue to do so.

"The same people in Alaska are saying they don't have these kinds of mines in the state. They do. They've got the Fort Knox gold mine. They've got the Red Dog zinc mine. They've got a number of mines with exactly the same open pit mining method and exactly the same earthen dams and tailings storage facilities," said Bennett.

To hear the full interview with Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett, click the audio labelled: Bill Bennett on Red Chris mine.

To hear the full interview with Alaskan commercial fisherman Heather Hardcastle, click the audio labelled: Red Chris mine worries Alaskan fisher.
 
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